Empire or Earth Community:Changing the Story of Our Civilization

Empire and Earth Community: Changing the Story of Our Civilization

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Why are a certain group of (mostly) men apparently determined to turn women into property with no human rights or freedom to manage their own lives??This determination to suppress and control women as well as people of color, people whose sexual orientation does not conform to the male/female binary and all others who are not straight white, able bodied, cisgender heterosexual and Christian seems to form the foundation of one loud voice in American culture ?and politics right now. This trend is terrifyingly reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1998). The larger structure of this framework has been described by David Korten (The Great Turning, 2006) as the culture of Empire and ?by Rianne Eisler (The Chalice and the Blade, 2011) as the Dominator culture. Dominator cultures rely on fear that the rulers impose on the oppressed in order to suppress expressions of independence and non-conformity. Although our male dominated Dominator culture appears to be the natural order of things in 2022, it is actually the successor to a female oriented, earth based civilization which preceded it and lasted for thousands of years before the Common Era. Evidence of the matriarchal cultures survive in the thousands of goddess statues that have been discovered all over the Middle East and in some parts of South America. The earlier cultures were characterized by a relative lack of hierarchies, gender balance, focus on community welfare and child-rearing practices that taught children how to manage their anger, fear and other destructive feelings without breaking the bonds of community (Eisler, Nurturing Our Humanity, 2019).

The recent leak of the Supreme Court on the upcoming opinion that will probably eliminate Roe v.Wade has sparked an explosion of rage from women and men all across the country and an ocean of red robes and white hats that symbolize the dominator males and the dominated females of the “fictional’ Handmaids’ Tale. Making access to abortion illegal has unleashed the rage of women and their male supporters. This potential ruling makes clear that women ( and the men who love them)?in this situation are the dominated. The potential consequences of the outburst of Dominator culture on the dominated within this culture include the following.

·?????Right to marry whoever a person chooses

·?????Right to decide where to live

·?????All rights privacy which is the right to govern one’s ?family life, including the choice to have or not to have children.

·?????Freedom of religion

·?????Freedom of speech

·?????Right to control economic destiny

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Flawed Assumptions Inevitably Lead to Flawed Outcomes

???????????In my first college philosophy course I learned that flawed assumptions inevitably lead to flawed outcomes. If you start with the wrong map, you will arrive at the wrong destination. The problem of our civilization right now is that we are following the wrong map. At the very least, the map or story of the ways that our world works as promulgated by American culture has led us to climate change, endemic poverty, racism, pollution, diminishing natural resources, abuse, child poverty and exclusion and impoverishment of many marginalized groups in the US.?The fundamental error on this roadmap is the failure to understand and acknowledge the interconnectedness of all human beings as well as the connection between humans and the planet that supports life.

???????????Eisler and Korten among others are trying to rewrite the story of our world and develop a cultural narrative that is more closely attuned to the integrated nature of our societies and our world . They are asking thinking people to create a world view that involves complexity, multiple perspectives, expansion of our social spheres to include people who are different from us as well as expansion of our notion of tribe to include all humans. They are asking all of us to invent a new story of society where communities thrive, extremes of wealth and poverty are less prominent, children learn to manage their emotions and address their problems and parents learn to support and listen to children, not to frighten them into submission.?This new story is leaking into our culture from many sources, but it is far from becoming our major cultural framework. Movies, television shows and advertisements are now filled with images of multicultural , multiracial people doing things together, having families together, working together and treating each other with respect. Unfortunately, the fundamental assumptions of hierarchy and domination have not disappeared from our workplaces, our families or our voting process.

???????????Is there a core concept or set of behaviors around which our new cultural story can be created??Bell hooks suggested that love is the only answer to hate, discord, violence and the ideology of domination/subordination. She was writing from a Buddhist perspective that is not widely known or understood in the US. The problem with the idea of love in American culture and the English language, is that it connotes a vague emotion which is fluid, unstable and ephemeral. That cannot be an answer to anything this big.?hooks states that love is “a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust” (Lions Roar, Vol.7, #2, May, 2022, p.58). She quotes Thich Nhat Hanh that ‘understanding is the very foundation of love and compassion” (ibid, p.59). It is very difficult to hate anyone whose situation we understand . Neither can we feel disconnected from that person. Love as a feeling is a mystery that comes and goes.?Hooks definition of love gives us a pragmatic guide for managing our own behavior, our relationships and the way we move through the world. It also provides us with an ethical framework to guide our own behavior and illuminate our consideration of the mega systems that govern Empire/Dominator world. Hooks’ six considerations also provide an answer to the question, “What can I do? This is too huge for one person.” We can then use those principles to assess our actions in the world, the institutions we engage with and the politics we practice. We can also have faith that our intentions and actions will have ripple effects:

·?????Does this action manifest caring about the other people and its long term consequences?

·?????Am I committed to following through with an ethic of caring, even if caring about someone or something other than myself intrudes?

·?????Do I really have enough knowledge to take this action or express this opinion?

·?????Who is responsible for the outcome? Where do I fit in?

·?????Does this action convey respect for everyone who will be affected by it, including myself?

·?????If I do this, or contribute to this action, will people be able to trust me, can I trust the other people involved and can we all trust in the long term consequences?

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It takes hundreds of years for any culture to develop its own story about how the world works. Every culture has a slightly or significantly different story and all these stories evolve over time. This is the first time in human history when a large group of people has set out to consciously write a new story in the understanding that the old story isn’t working and is hurting millions of people and our planet. One thing we know for certain is that if we don’t change our story, our belief system about how to behave and run our institutions, this planet will change catastrophically and all of us will be its victims. We don’t have much time to start working on this project. All of us collectively and individually must examine the ways our current world view shapes our behavior and ask ourselves if we are enhancing life on the planet. We have to expand our notion of individuality to include the connections among all individuals, groups and systems. Then we must learn to act differently among ourselves, in all of our living and working environments and in our relationship to our planet.